Music Essay

The Who is considered by many to be one of the most popular and influential bands of the “rock era”. The Who became popular during the 1960s in both the U.K. and the U.S. Their songs were commonly seen on the Billboard top 100 and other musical charts. Even though the band was extremely popular, it had humble beginnings. The band originated in the U.K. during the 1960s, where they were first referred to as The Detours. The band originally consisted of five members including Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry. In 1964 the band changed their name to The Who after loosing some of their original members. At an early performance at a tavern in Britain, Pete Townshend accidentally broke of part of his guitar. After seeing the audience’s reaction, Townshend then proceeded to smash his whole guitar into pieces. He then picked up another guitar and continued the song. This created the trend of destroying instruments at the end of the performance.

            A band called The Kinks influenced the band’s early songs. Their first hit was named “I Can’t Explain”. This song became very popular in the U.S. and later became a top 10 hit in the U.K. Other popular songs soon followed their early success. Soon the lead songwriter Pete Townshend came up with the idea of creating a type of “progressive epic” told by their songs. Townshend’s aim was to connect all of the band’s songs in order to tell a larger story. Their first album “My Generation” was an immense success in both the U.S. and the U.K. This album was followed by a conceptual album named “ A Quick One”, which included the storytelling technique that Townshend had hinted at in his early songs. Many people, including the Rolling Stones magazine, would later refer to this album as a mini opera. Soon after this the band followed with an album named “The Who Sell Out”. Later in 1967, Townshend sat down for an interview with Rolling Stones Magazine. In the interview he revealed that he was working on the world’s first rock opera named “Tommy”.

            In the early days the band was influenced by The Kink’s work. Later on as the band became more defined, Townshend became influenced by Meher Baba. Meher Baba was a man in India who was considered by many to be an Indian “Avatar”.  In the rock opera “Tommy” the main character was considered to be a type of avatar for the writer Pete Townshend. The band eventually influenced many other bands during the era. Their most memorable mark on rock society was the beginning of the trend of destroying instruments after every performance.

            The band began to decline in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1978 the band lost one of its most prominent members, Keith Moon. Moon passed away during his sleep after an overdose of medication that was used to combat his alcoholism. During the early 1980s the band was still producing popular songs, but in many ways the band was running out of energy. After one last tour the band retired and became a studio only band. The members then went their own separate ways.

            For the most part the band’s songs had an optimistic outlook. Their songs, especially their rock operas, often told the story of characters who were trying to find their way in life. Take for example the song “Baba O’Riley” which describes the harsh circumstances facing teenagers at that time: “Teenage wasteland

It's only teenage wasteland

Teenage wasteland

Oh, oh

Teenage wasteland

They're all wasted!

Throughout all of their work The Who was characterized by innovation and creativity that was not matched by any other band. 

Through the use of hypnopaedia my video

attempts to show the viewer that cholos are

cool. The video repeats words and images to 

try to brainwash the viewer into believing that

cholos are cool. There is also a short video at the end 

to further emphasize the fact that cholos are cool. 

Hopefully after watching this video the viewer will begin to imitate 

cholo behavior.